Hilary P’s Rant

Commenting on your own stories… I have noticed that a number of authors on this site have started replying to every readers comment on a story with a comment of their own. Since we can no longer vote for stories, this tends to give a totally misleading impression of the popularity of a story. For example I see a story with 20 votes and think "this might be good," and browse the comments, only to find that ten out of twenty have been posted by the author. This is a misleading practice, somewhat akin to a politician repeatedly voting for him/herself. I have heard from many authors who don't do this that they regard these "reply-comments" as cheating.

I have had 'thank-you messages' from a number of authors, but usually in the form of a PM–Personal Message–(click on "write to author") which does not massage the number of comments in a manner that is unfair to other authors.

I would add that I am not transgendered, but the mother of a teenage TG daughter.

End of Rant,

Hilary P

PS (added later) I would like to add that I am a blunt Scot and speak my mind when I believe it is needed.